Release Update v25-47

CATAMA is introducing a comprehensive configuration and template system for mobile vehicles (motorhomes, campers, recreational vehicles). You can now create and manage complex vehicle configurations and save them as reusable templates. The new system consists of two main components: the Camper Configurator for custom vehicle configurations and the Template Manager for reusable templates. In the Configurator, you can enter all vehicle-specific details: standard equipment, optional extras, technical modifications, add-on packages, and customizations. Each configuration is linked to all relevant customer data, vehicle details, and equipment features. The Template Manager allows you to save frequently sold configurations as templates—for example, “Premium Motorhome Standard Equipment,” “Family Plus Package,” or “Off-Road Camper Base Version.” When creating a new order, you can then select a suitable template, and all defined equipment features are automatically applied. The system also manages terms and purchase prices for the configurations. You can see in real time which equipment options incur which costs, allowing you to calculate quickly and accurately. The configurations are seamlessly integrated into document processing—from the initial inquiry through the quote to the final purchase contract, you maintain a clear overview of all vehicle configuration details at all times.

The vehicle damage report has been expanded from a simple text field to a multi-line text area. You can now enter detailed damage descriptions with multiple paragraphs, structured lists, and detailed explanations—without the text appearing cluttered in a single line. This is particularly important when documenting accident damage, pre-existing damage on used cars, or detailed condition descriptions during vehicle takeovers. At the same time, the entry of purchase prices for orders has been optimized: The field for the order purchase price is now designed as a terms and conditions field, which means that you can not only enter a simple amount but also specify currency, discounts, special terms, and other commercial details. The system automatically calculates the margin between the purchase and sales price and displays it in reports and analyses. You can see at a glance: Which orders are particularly profitable? Where are purchase costs higher than planned? This transparency helps you continuously improve your calculations and operate more efficiently.

The Inventory Report for Mobile has been enhanced with smart filter options designed specifically for car dealers and repair shops with their own vehicle inventory. You can now filter specifically for consignment vehicles and in-stock vehicles. Consignment vehicles are those you are selling on behalf of a customer but do not own—it is important that you can clearly distinguish these from your own inventory. In-stock vehicles are vehicles you own that are ready for sale. The new filters allow you to switch between these categories with a single click or view both together. Additionally, you can see relevant inventory metrics for each vehicle: How long has the vehicle been in stock? What costs have been incurred (storage fees, maintenance, etc.)? How is the value trending? The filter also supports combined scenarios: For example, you can display “All consignment vehicles that have been in stock for more than 90 days” or “In-stock vehicles with a purchase value over 30,000 EUR.” This provides valuable insights for your inventory management: Which vehicles are tying up capital for too long? Where should you respond with price reductions? You can save the filter settings and define them as a default view so you don’t have to reconfigure them every time.

The product search has been enhanced with a powerful search type feature that significantly speeds up your daily work with the product master. You can now explicitly specify which criteria to search by when performing a product search: product number, product description, manufacturer product number, EAN/GTIN, supplier product number, or free text across all fields. In the past, you often had to run multiple searches if you weren’t sure whether a piece of information was stored in the description or the item number. Now, simply select “Search in: Item Description” and enter “Brake Pad”—the system will then search specifically only the description fields. Or you can select “Search in: Manufacturer Item Number” and enter the OE number the customer provided. The search type selection appears as a dropdown menu right next to the search field and is immediately available. The system remembers your last selection, so you don’t have to reconfigure it for your next search. Especially convenient: In the document editor (quotes, orders, invoices), you can select the search type directly when adding items. You work faster because the results are more precise and irrelevant hits are no longer displayed. For large item master files with tens of thousands of items, this filter offers a significant speed advantage.

The OCR-based import of vehicle data has been completely redesigned and optimized for use with inventory and used vehicles. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) makes it possible to automatically extract vehicle data from photos or scans of vehicle registration certificates and import it directly into CATAMA. Previously, this process was sometimes prone to errors, especially with older or poorly legible documents. The new version now recognizes data much more reliably: VIN, initial registration date, mileage, technical data, owner information, and all other relevant fields from Registration Certificates Part I and II. The system automatically checks the recognized data for plausibility: Does the date match? Is the VIN formatted correctly? Do the technical data match? If there are any uncertainties, the corresponding fields are highlighted in yellow and you can manually correct them. The import wizard guides you step by step through the process: photograph or upload the document, wait for automatic recognition, review and confirm the recognized data, and the vehicle is created in the system. The entire process now takes only a few seconds instead of several minutes of manual entry. This is particularly valuable when purchasing multiple used vehicles or when entering consignment vehicles.

The order overview has been enhanced with an important filter function: You can now filter orders specifically based on the date the corresponding invoice was created. This feature is particularly relevant for your financial and controlling processes. Imagine you want to see all orders that were processed in October and invoiced in November—this filter lets you do exactly that. You can define a date range (e.g., “Invoice created between 11/01/2025 and 11/30/2025”), and the system will display all corresponding orders, regardless of when the order was originally created or when the vehicle was in the shop. This is extremely important for accurate period allocation in your accounting: Revenue must be assigned to the month in which the service was billed. With the new filter, you can generate monthly revenue reports that include exactly the orders that were actually invoiced in the respective month. You can also use combined filters: “Show all warranty orders for which the invoice was created in November and which have not yet been paid” or “All orders for customer XY that were billed in the last quarter.” The filter function works in real time and displays the results immediately—even with large datasets containing thousands of orders, performance remains excellent thanks to optimized database queries.

CATAMA now offers the option to display internal comments and notes directly on printed order invoices and warehouse receipts. Using the new configuration option CONFIG_TEMPLATE_ORDERINVOICE_DISPLAY_INTERN_COMMENT, you can specify—either system-wide or on a per-document-type basis—whether internal comments should be included. Internal comments are notes that you typically save only for your own employees—for example, “Customer insists on original parts,” “Vehicle will be picked up on Friday,” “Special discount already agreed upon with boss,” or “Attention: Late payment on previous orders.” If you enable the new option, these comments will appear in a specially marked area on the printed document. This is particularly useful for internal documents such as warehouse receipts, workshop orders, or picking slips, which are not sent to customers anyway. Your employees in the workshop or warehouse can then see all important notes directly on the document without having to look them up in the system. This reduces follow-up questions and prevents misunderstandings. For customer documents such as final invoices, you can of course leave the option disabled so that internal notes are not visible to external parties. The display appears in a discreet but easily readable format at the end of the document. A note (e.g., “Internal Note:”) makes it clear that this is not customer information.

A new feature allows you to edit stock vehicles directly from within the context of internal invoices. When you create an internal invoice for a stock vehicle—for example, for reconditioning costs, pre-sale repairs, or maintenance work—you can now open the full vehicle editor with a single click and update all relevant data. Previously, you had to exit invoice editing, switch to the vehicle module, search for the vehicle there, edit it, and then navigate back to the invoice—a cumbersome process involving multiple clicks. The new direct link opens the editor as an overlay window, so you’re immediately back in the invoice context after editing. Typical use cases: You’ve just entered repair costs for a used vehicle and want to update the vehicle history at the same time; you’re invoicing reconditioning costs and want to set the vehicle status to “ready for sale” at the same time; or you’re entering maintenance work and want to add the current mileage to the vehicle master record. The editor displays all vehicle data, including technical details, condition assessment, cost breakdown, and sales status. Changes are saved immediately and are available system-wide. This saves a tremendous amount of time and prevents important vehicle data from being forgotten.

The Purchasing Overview has been enhanced with new, powerful filtering options that help you better monitor and manage your procurement processes. You can now filter by various criteria: Supplier (show all purchases from a specific supplier), Time Period (last week, last month, custom), Status (open, partially delivered, fully delivered, canceled), Order Value (e.g., all purchases over 5,000 EUR), and Payment Status (paid, unpaid, overdue). The filters can be combined as desired: “Show all unpaid purchases from Supplier XY in the last quarter” or “All purchases over 1,000 EUR that have not yet been fully delivered.” The system automatically calculates totals and statistics for the filtered selection: total merchandise value, average order value, number of items. You can see at a glance: Which supplier has the highest volume? Where are there outstanding delivery obligations? Which invoices are still due? You can save the filter settings as favorites and recall them with a single click. Exporting the filtered data to Excel is, of course, possible, so you can process the data further or share it with your tax advisor. The new inventory creation feature has also been updated and now works even more reliably when generating inventory lists.

A common problem in the parts business: You import an updated price list from your supplier, but the items you already have physically in stock retain their old prices—which leads to inconsistencies in your calculations. CATAMA now elegantly solves this problem: When you upload a new price list (via supplier or manufacturer import), a new option appears: “Update Stock Items.” Check this box, and the system automatically updates all items you already have in stock with the new prices and information from the price list. This includes: purchase prices, selling prices (if included in the price list), item descriptions (if product names have changed), technical data, and availability information. The update process is intelligent: The system first checks which stock items are affected by the new price list (matching via item number, manufacturer item number, or EAN). It then shows you a preview: “47 stock items can be updated.” You can review the list and decide whether to update all items or only specific ones. After the update, you receive a detailed report: Which items were changed? What price changes occurred? The system logs all changes so you can track when each price was valid. This ensures your margin calculations and selling prices are always up to date.

In document processing (quotes, orders, invoices), you can group items into packages—for example, an “Inspection Package” with several sub-items such as oil change, filters, brake fluid, etc. Previously, the order of these package items was fixed. Starting now, you can freely reorder the items within a package using drag-and-drop. Drag individual items to the desired position, and the order is saved immediately. This is important for a logical and professional presentation: You can arrange the items by importance, workflow, or alphabetically. The items will then appear in exactly this order on the printed quote or invoice. The feature works intuitively: Click the handle icon next to an item, hold down the mouse button, and drag the item to its new location. Visual feedback shows you where the item will be inserted. The new sorting order applies to both the on-screen view and all printed documents and PDF exports. The selected order is also retained when copying a document. This prevents confusion and ensures consistent presentation across all document types.

Until now, there was a limitation regarding deposit invoices (Cautio Invoices)—that is, invoices that document a down payment or deposit: VAT could only be calculated correctly if a tax rate had already been specified in the parent document (e.g., order or quote). This caused problems if you wanted to create a deposit invoice before the final order had been fully calculated. This restriction has now been removed: CATAMA now calculates the tax for deposit invoices independently and correctly, even if no tax has yet been defined in the parent document. The system automatically applies the default tax rate configured for your business (usually 19% in Germany). You can also adjust the tax rate manually if needed. The calculation is transparent: you see the net amount, tax amount, and gross amount clearly separated. If the final order is later created with a different tax rate, the system recognizes this and can make the appropriate adjustments during final settlement. This is particularly important for international transactions or special regulations such as reduced tax rates. The new logic ensures correct tax documentation and prevents issues during tax audits.

CATAMA bietet jetzt ein umfassendes Vorlagen-System für E-Mail-Anschreiben beim Versand von Dokumenten. Sie können in den Systemeinstellungen für jeden Dokumenttyp individuell festlegen, welcher Einleitungstext standardmäßig in der E-Mail erscheinen soll, wenn Sie das entsprechende Dokument versenden. Die neuen Vorlagen-Felder finden Sie unter „Einstellungen → E-Mail-Vorlagen“ und umfassen: Angebots-Versand, Auftrags-Bestätigung, Rechnungs-Versand, Zahlungserinnerungen, Mahnungen, Lieferscheine, und alle weiteren Dokumenttypen. Für jede Vorlage können Sie einen individuellen Text hinterlegen – beispielsweise: „Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, anbei erhalten Sie wie besprochen unser Angebot für die Reparatur Ihres Fahrzeugs. Gerne stehen wir für Rückfragen zur Verfügung. Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Ihr Werkstatt-Team“. Der Text kann Platzhalter enthalten, die automatisch mit echten Daten gefüllt werden: {CUSTOMER_NAME} für den Kundennamen, {DOCUMENT_NUMBER} für die Belegnummer, {VEHICLE} für Fahrzeugbezeichnung, {DATE} für das Datum, und viele weitere. Wenn Sie ein Dokument per E-Mail versenden, öffnet sich das E-Mail-Formular mit dem passenden Vorlagen-Text bereits vorausgefüllt. Sie können den Text bei Bedarf noch individuell anpassen, bevor Sie die E-Mail absenden. Das spart enorm viel Zeit, weil Sie nicht jedes Mal den gleichen Standard-Text neu tippen müssen. Gleichzeitig stellen Sie sicher, dass alle E-Mails professionell formuliert und konsistent sind – besonders wichtig, wenn mehrere Mitarbeiter E-Mails versenden.

All email templates are managed centrally in the system settings and can be edited from there at any time. You’ll find a clear list of all available templates with a preview of the current text. With a single click, you can open the editor and customize the text. The editor offers basic formatting options: bold text, bulleted lists, and inserting links. You can also use HTML code if you need more advanced formatting. A placeholder overview shows you all available variables and explains what data they contain. A preview function allows you to view the text with sample data before saving it. This ensures that the placeholders work correctly and the text is easy to read. The templates are stored in the database and are immediately available to all users—changes do not need to be activated or deployed first. You can also create multiple template versions and switch between them: a formal version for business customers, a more personal one for regular customers. The system remembers the last template used for each customer, so the appropriate version is automatically suggested the next time an email is sent. A version history feature shows you all previous versions of a template, allowing you to revert to an older version if needed.